Volunteers Wrap Gifts for Senior Center

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For many people, there is no bigger hassle than wrapping presents during the holidays. But for ten volunteers at the Rochester Senior Center, they are happy to do it, especially if it means bringing the organization one step closer to achieving one of their dreams. On Saturday, December 15, the Senior Center held a gift-wrapping fundraiser in order to raise money for its Supportive Day Program Fund.

“Since December is so busy, we decided not to do a dinner like we have been doing,” said Executive Director Sharon Lally.  “Instead, we decided to do this because it’s timely and it’s a nice service to give to the community.”

All of the money raised on Saturday will go to the Supportive Day Program Fund, which aims to put a 1,500 square foot addition to the rear of the Senior Center.  The Supportive Day Program will cater to the frailer senior citizens in town by allowing them to live in their homes but go to the Senior Center each day to be supervised and monitored.

“Some of these senior citizens are living alone in their homes and they don’t get out,” said Lally.  “As a result, they can become isolated and depressed.  This is an opportunity to do something specifically for this population.”

The program will help ensure that the senior citizens are getting good nutrition as well as increased socialization, Lally said.  Additionally, the Senior Center will provide transportation and meals for the attendees.  All of this will hopefully be done without the town’s money, Lally hopes.

“We are trying to raise money for the addition without asking the town for additional funds,” she said.  “Knowing what the economy is right now, we don’t want to have to raise taxes.”

So far, the group is well on their way to achieving that goal.  After a year-and-a-half of fundraising, they’ve been able to raise nearly half of their $200,000 goal.  An ongoing brick sale where residents can purchase a brick to honor a loved one has been an important source for funds.  Also, the Senior Center has held a variety of different dinners to raise money.  A Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament is slated for March 9.

“There’s a million places to put your money and not everyone has extra money to give right now so every little bit counts,” said Lally.  “It’s really heartwarming because we have such wonderful volunteers here.  I try to not take it for granted because we really are blessed that way.”

For more information on the Rochester Senior Center, visit their website at www.rochestermaseniorcenter.com.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

Holiday in the Park

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To the Editor:

The Town of Mattapoisett would like to thank the following for making our Annual Holiday in the Park a success:

Tent-Chase Canopy &Staff, Dan and Andy Chase; Tree Donor– Howard Tinkham; Harbormaster– Horace Field; Decorative Lighting – Mattapoisett Highway Department, Mattapoisett Fire Department, Mattapoisett Police Department, Women’s Firefighter Auxiliary, Jessica Collyer, Janet Scott, Jennifer Scott, Joanne Collyer and Rayna Caplan; Electrical Work– Walter Rusinoski, Town Administrator Michael Gagne, Board of Selectmen, Paula Butterfield; Production – Dan White; MC – Ken Pacheco; Sound – Rick LeBlanc; Jr. MC – Luke Mellow and Tony Tranfaglia; Costume Alterations – Bobbi Gaspar; Frosty the Snowman – Danielle White; Rudolph the Reindeer – Ashley Sweatland; Elves – Katie Bobola and Danielle Medeiros.

Music – The Showstoppers, OHS Chorus, OHS Band, Paul Halpainy and Willow Darling; Tree Ornaments – Greta Anderson.

Food Donations – How on Earth, On the Go, Seaport Ice Cream Slip, Caryn Coulombe, Dunkin’ Donuts, Shipyard Galley, Panino’s, Gail’s Goodies, Mattapoisett Women’s Club, Ying Dynasty, Turk’s Seafood, Nick’s Pizza, Uncle Jon’s, Jodi Bauer, Southcoast Local, Tastebuds and Inn on Shipyard Park.

Servers and Cookie Makers – Melaine Medeiros, Joyce and Steve Lombard, Deb and Tom Silva, Jackie and Perry Angelo, Robin Schufelt, Pat Cole and Greta Mills.

Face Painting – Sarah Piehler, Evelyn Estes and Samantha Allaire. Crafts – Jen Rusinoski, ORR Students, Linda Burke, Mattapoisett Library, Maria Lynch and Girl Scouts.

Other Participants– Mattapoisett Boy Scouts, Mattapoisett Historical Museum and Mattapoisett Lions Club.

Melody Pacheco

Mattapoisett

Sandy Relief

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To the Editor:

On November 16, I had the pleasure of leading a group of Mattapoisett Lions to Far Rockaway, New York, an area particularly hard-hit by hurricane Sandy.  We left early in the morning with a 16-foot truck loaded up with cleaning supplies and food.  Our mission was to meet up with local Lions clubs in the area, set up our tables, and serve over 50 gallons of soup and 300 hot dogs to the residents of this devastated area.  At 11:45 a.m. lions met us from three different clubs in the parking lot of a rundown strip mall, which had been less than 4 feet of water during the storm.  With their help, we were able to set up and begin serving hot soup in 20 minutes.  Over the next 3-½ hours we served over 500 servings of soup, 300 hot dogs, 500 bottles of water and Gatorade to a nonstop line of people.

This project started about two weeks before at our monthly Board of Directors meeting where we discussed how we could help the victims of hurricane Sandy.  Very quickly, we decided to bring them a hot meal, something many of them had not had since the storm.  We approached area restaurants and asked if they would make hot soup for us to transport and serve.  The support was amazing: Panino’s, Riccardi’s, The Oxford Creamery, The Chowder House, On the Go, Nick’s Pizza, Harriet’s Outback, and Turks all stepped up to the plate and helped provide food and supplies to feed these people.  The Rochester’s Lions Club made 10 gallons of Chili, in part from donations from the New Bedford Lions Club.  Individuals also came forward and gave money and supplies for our journey.

Many of the area businesses such as True Value of Fairhaven, Building 19, Target, Shaws, Stop & Shop, South Coast Medical Group, Interstate Battery of Dartmouth and Fairhaven Lumber all donated cleaning supplies and the first aid items desperately needed by the people of Far Rockaway, New York.  Chase Canopy gave us any equipment; large kettles, two-burner propane stove & propane and the insulated containers to keep the soup hot while we traveled.

I want to thank the community for making this trip possible.  Without the support of the restaurants and other businesses of the area we could not have done what we did.  The feeling you get when you see the smile on a young boy or girl’s face and the many thank you’s from their parents is “priceless.”  This was truly a community effort and we should all be proud of what we accomplished.

I think we all realized that had hurricane Sandy taken a more traditional path that could have been us.

On behalf of the members of the Mattapoisett Lions Club, I want to wish everyone a wonderful Holiday Season full of good memories and a very happy and healthy New Year.

Respectfully,

Donald Bamberger, President

Mattapoisett Lions Club

Center School Clock Thank You

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To the Editor:

On December 8, my wife and I attended an open house and dedication of the newly renovated Center School Clock.  This endeavor, led by Ray Andrews of Mattapoisett, has been an ongoing project for two or more years.  Ray has invested considerable time and effort in collecting donations and making arrangements to have the clock restored to its original working condition as well as having the clock mechanism relocated to the original Music Room, where it can be viewed by the public.  The 114-year-old Seth Thomas Clock is now in full operation and can be considered as one of the highlights of Mattapoisett Center School.

Along with the town of Mattapoisett, we wish to acknowledge the dedication and effort provided by Ray Andrews and his wife Janet to complete the project and thank them for a job well done.

 

Alan and Sylvia Fales

Mattapoisett

Showstoppers Free Holiday Concert

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The Showstoppers Singing Troupe is offering one last performance of their 2012 Christmas Concert on Saturday, December 29 at 1:00 pm at the Music Hall in Marion.   Free and open to the public, the show will include traditional and non-traditional selections, performed by this talented troupe of local singers who range in age from 5 to 19. The show is sure to please audience members of all ages.  For more information, call 508-758-4525 or email info@showtoppers.us.

Marion Art Center Announcements

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•Watercolor Painting For Advanced Beginners: February 6, 2013 to March 27, 2013 (8 weeks) Wednesdays   9:30am to 11:30am Patricia White, Instructor.

The Marion Art Center announces that it will be offering Watercolor Painting for Advanced Beginners starting on February 6 and will run until March 27.  The course is eight weeks long and will be offered on Wednesdays from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. (Maximum 10 Students) Patricia White is the instructor.  The fee for the 8-week course is $175 for members and $190 for nonmembers.  Materials are not included.  To register call:  508-748-1266 or visit the MAC website at: www.marionartcenter.org/ classes

This course is designed for people who have had some experience with watercolor painting.  Each week, the participants will build upon their previous painting skills to develop their individual styles.   Proposed topics include the still life, painting from memory, figurative painting and the landscape.  At least one session will be on location (weather permitting).

About the Instructor: Patricia White is a painter and a Gallery Instructor at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  She is past President of the Marion Art Center and a current Exhibition Committee Member.  She studied Realist Painting at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, and has shown her work in numerous exhibitions in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including the Marion Art Center, The Jonathan Bourne Library, The Wareham Library, Don’s Art Shop of Warren, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Gift Shop of The Cape Cod Museum of Art.

•Yoga: Mondays   7:00 pm to 8:30 pm January 14 to March 4 (8 weeks) Fee:  $90.

The Marion Art Center will be offering yoga classes on Monday evenings from 7:00pm to 8:30pm.  The class will run for 8 weeks starting Monday, January 14th.  Marcia Mellor, MA.ASCP (MT), will teach classes.  The class is not limited to the physically skilled and all levels are welcome.

This class will marry the anaerobic methods of yoga (lengthening the muscles and ligaments, balancing the right and left side of the body utilizing breath control and concentration techniques) with the fine motor movements of the spine.  Each class will end in Savasana or total relaxed pose.

Yoga is an ancient system designed to unify body, mind and spirit.  Through a series of mental and physical exercises, combined with regulated breathing, the body and mind will become more intimately coordinated.

The instructor, Marcia Mellor has been teaching yoga and dance for the past 44 years.  Mellor has a Masters Degree from Lesley College in “Mind Body Integration”.  She established and ran a Modern Dance program at Cape Cod Community College for 11 years.  She then started teaching ethnic dance and has taught belly dance, African dance, country line dance and ballroom dance.  She is also a sculptor and has run her video business “Chrysalis Video” for the past 25 years.

•Little People’s Theater: Open to ages 5-9. Tuesdays, 4:30 to 5:30 pm.  Session III – January 8 to February 12 Session IV – March 3 to April 9 Each 6-week Session – $75/$90 Nancy Sparklin, Instructor.

Each week the children will learn basic theater craft through drama games, readers’ theater and experience the fun of the stage while rehearsing for a small production to be performed the last day of each session.

To register for this program, go to the Classes tab on the MAC website at www.marionartcenter.org/classes/LPT.  You can register and pay (PayPal only) there.  Or you can click on the printable registration form, print it and mail to the Art Center with your payment.

•Young People’s Theater: Open to ages 10-14.  Thursdays, 4:30 to 6:00 pm.  Class Schedule:  January 10, 17, 24 & 31, February 7 & 28 (no class on February 14 or 21), March 7, 14, 21 & 28, April 4 & 11 (performance on April 11).

Students will learn basic theater craft through the process of putting on a production.  Kimberly Teves, Instructor.  The fee for the 10-week session is $160/175.

To register for this program, go to the Classes tab on the MAC website at www.marionartcenter.org/classes/YPT.  You can register and pay (PayPal only) there.  Or you can click on the printable registration form, print it and mail to the Art Center with your payment.

•MAC Dance Academy: Starts on February 25. Monday Dance Program – Classical dance instruction in ballet, tap, jazz and basic tumbling with optional add-on classes:

•Preschool, ages 3-4, 3:30-4:00 pm, $140/$155

•Kinderstep, age 5, 4:00 to 4:30 pm, $140/$155

•Beginner, age 6, 4:30 to 5:00 pm, $140/$

•Intermediate, ages 7-8, 5:00 to 5:30 pm, $140/$155

•Hip Hop, ages 6-8, 5:30 to 6:00 pm, $140/155 OR*$90/$105

•Gymnastics, ages 6-8, 6:00 to 6:30 pm, $140/$155 OR *$90/$105

*Add-on price for Marion Art Center Members or Non-Members taking Beginner or Intermediate dance at regular price.

The recital will be held on May 10.  The dress rehearsal will be at 4:00 pm with the recital following at 6:00 pm at Sippican Elementary School.  To register for this program, go to the MAC Dance Academy tab on the MAC website at www.marionartcenter.org/classes.

Christmas Eve Services

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The First Congregational Church of Rochester invites the community to join us for two very special Christmas Eve services on Monday, December 24:

•7:00 pm:  A Family Christmas Eve Service including a nativity pageant presented by youth from the church, family-friendly carols, and a puppet presentation, all bringing the Christmas Story to life.

•10:00 pm: A Traditional Service of music and worship ending with a candle lit hymn in Rochester’s historic 1837 Congregational Church.

The church is located in the center of town on Constitution Way next to Town Hall. For more information visit www.rochestercongregational.org or call the Church Office at 508-763-4314.

The First Congregational Church of Marion will have their Christmas Eve Service on Monday, December 24 at 7:00pm in Marion Village, the corner of Front and Main Streets. Their new pastor, Rev. Dr. Sheila Rubdi and Music Director Sandy Morgan are planning a special candle-light program with violin soloist Atty. Hawley Bigelow.  It will feature traditional Christmas Carols and a seasonable liturgy.  All are welcome to join into this celebration.

Gateway Youth Hockey Weekend Recap

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•Mites 1: The Mites 1 team experienced their first defeat of the season, losing a close one to the Falmouth Clippers 12-11. The whole team played hard throughout a very physical game. Erin Craig earned the game puck for “holding her position and challenging for the puck,” according to her coaches. The sweet play of the game was a beautiful pass from Jack Breault through the crease to Derek Gauvin who was waiting at the back door and immediately put the puck in the back of the net.

•Girls: The Gateway Girls team scored its first-ever victory Sunday against the Newport Whalers 6-3. With a total of only two lines and three defensemen, Gateway outhustled Newport and after falling behind early in the game, deflated Newport’s chances with three quick goals to start the second period. Danielle Craig had two goals and two assists and goalie Meghan Craig had a solid game in net, making several key saves when her team was down 1-0 early on.

•Squirts 1: On Saturday, the Ice Wolves won an early battle against a tough Eagles team 5-0. Earning the shutout in net was Alex DeMarco. Leading the way scoring was Tyler Lovendale with 2 goals, while Chris Gauvin, Kaleb Riggle and Meghan Berg each scored a goal.   On Sunday the Ice Wolves played in a State Play game, equivalent to a State Tournament. With only eight players, they held their own in a tough 4-3 loss with Alex DeMarco had a great game in net, stopping numerous breakaways. Quirino doCanto led the way scoring with 2 goals, while Chris Gauvin chipped in with one.

•Squirts 2: The Gateway Sharks beat the Lower Cape Coyotes with a solid 3-0 victory. Thomas Galavotti was in net for the Sharks and delivered another shut out with the help of the entire team. Ben DeMoranville scored 2 goals and Danny Flynn scored one goal with an assist by MacKenzie Hennessey.

•PeeWees: The Pee Wee Gladiators Team suffered its worst loss of the season to the Lower Cape Fancy team 10-0.  Lower Cape took advantage of the early game time and lengthy Gateway commute to outhustle and outmaneuver the tired Gladiators right out of the gate.  Despite a number of saves by both Pee Wee goalies, the continuous barrage was too much for them.

•Bantams: The Gateway Bantam team annihilated Barnstable on Sunday by the score of 8-1. Gateway dominated the game with great passing, fore-checking and back- checking. Teaghan Andre had some amazing saves in net, one of his best games so far this season. Chase Cunningham replaced him in net midway and also played outstanding goal tending. Scoring goals for Gateway was Sean Kelso, Brady Smith and Matt St. John all with two goals each. Liam Sweeney and Alex Atkinson each had one goal.

Marion Considers Adding Facilities Manager

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The addition of a full-time Facilities Manager in Marion could become a reality after issues and concerns were raised regarding the maintenance of several buildings in town.  A discussion was held at the Marion Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting on Tuesday, December 18.

In the fall, Selectman Jody Dickerson, along with Capital Improvement Planning Committee Member Norm Hills, toured 11 buildings around town that are in need or several repairs. Both are concerned with the lack of a plan to maintain these buildings and feel it is urgent to get a plan into place.

“We believe this is something the town has to address shortly before these minor repairs turn into major repairs,” said Dickerson.  “We wanted to bring it to your attention.”

“It is probably in the best interest of the town to hire someone who is in charge of all of the buildings so moving forward, you don’t end up with crisis situations,” said Hills.

Town Administrator Paul Dawson suggested the possibility of hiring a Facilities Manager who would be able to oversee all of the buildings in town. He said it might be a good idea to compare salaries of other Facilities Managers in neighboring towns and bring it up to the Financial Committee for consideration.  A decision could be made as soon as the Spring Town Meeting.

“With the number of buildings we have and the value of them, it really calls for someone with a specific training and background to handle that,” Dawson said.

In other news, Dawson also informed the Selectmen that the Marion History Museum repair project might have to go out to bid again.  According to Dawson, the bid in which the town had originally selected in the initial bidding process failed to include the price of carpet labor and installation costs in his proposal.

“We’ve run into a snag,” he said.

Dawson had originally mandated that all interested candidates include that figure in their bids, however, this particular candidate did not. There were only two bids made on the project, and the other candidate’s figure exceeded the town’s budget and was therefore discarded. The original candidate has time to rework his bid and resubmit it to Dawson before going back out to bid.

Grant King of SRPEDD informed the Selectmen of a project that they will be conducting in the coming months. SRPEDD will be reviewing the land use component in each of its 27 towns as it pertains to the South Coast Rail.  Every five years, the maps are reviewed in order to determine which areas of town should be deemed as Area for Priority Development or Areas for Priority Protection. A public workshop will be held in January for all residents who would like to see the boundaries on the map changed.

“We hope that the workshop will be attended by all interested citizens and relevant boards,” said King.

The Selectmen agreed to endorse a letter in support of the residents of Little Neck Village, who are planning to reach out to State Representative William Straus and Senator Marc Pacheco to see if a road study can be conducted on Route 6 near the development.  Residents are complaining that there is both increased traffic and speeding in their vicinity and are interested in pursuing traffic calming opportunities.

The Marion Board of Selectmen will meet again on Tuesday, January 8 at 7:00 pm in the Marion Town House.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

Elks Student of the Month – December

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The Elks of Wareham Lodge No. 1548 sponsors the Elks Student of the Month and Student of the Year Awards for students enrolled in local area high schools.  The criteria used in nominating a student includes a student who excels in scholarship, citizenship, performing arts, fine arts, hobbies, athletics, church school, club and community service industry and farming.

We congratulate Senior Nicholas Mathieu of Rochester for being selected by the Old Rochester Regional High School faculty and staff.  Nicholas is a Senior who not only takes pride in his work but also is willing to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.  This helpfulness has been observed time and time again in the classroom and in his community service work. He is also a member of the Golf Team.  Nick understands what it takes to be a leader.